Human Rights Action (HRA), Centre for Civic Education (CCE) and ANIMA – Centre for Women’s and Peace Education invite all to a memorial gathering on Monday, 26 May 2025, at noon, in front of the Security Centre in Herceg Novi, to mark the anniversary of the war crime of the Deportation of Bosnian-Herzegovinian refugees from Montenegro in 1992.

We organise this gathering as an expression of the conscience of Montenegrin society, to honour the victims of this crime and support their families. For years, we have been advocating for the prosecution of those responsible for this crime, the erection of a memorial to the victims, and the establishment of 25 May as the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Deportation Crime. We will continue to do so again this year. This is the 21st year in which civil society organizes the memorial gathering, and the 16th year it is being held in front of the Police Administration building in Herceg Novi, from where most of the refugees were forcibly taken and handed over to the army of the Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to available official documents, in May and June 1992, the Montenegrin police unlawfully arrested at least 66 Muslims/Bosniaks from Bosnia and Herzegovina (i.e. persons presumed to be of Muslim ethnicity) who had fled to Montenegro to escape the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They were then handed over to the hostile army of the Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which killed the majority of them. Only twelve survived the deportation to concentration camps. At the same time, 33 refugees of Serb ethnicity from B&H were also arrested in Montenegro and returned to Republika Srpska for mobilisation. Unlike the Muslim refugees, the deported Serb refugees were not treated as hostages, nor is there any known case of their deaths as a direct result of the deportation.

In 2008, Montenegro paid compensation for damages to 200 members of the victims’ families after four-year-long trials based on settlements, acknowledging the unlawful actions of the Montenegrin police that led to tragic consequences.The fact that the victims were unlawfully arrested and handed over as hostages was confirmed by a final criminal judgment in Montenegro, and by the Hague Tribunal’s judgment in the Krnojelac case (the warden of the Foča concentration camp). However, in the criminal procedure conducted in Montenegro, all defendants were acquitted, as the court arbitrarily introduced a requirement that the accused “had to belong to a party to the conflict or to act in the service of a party to the conflict to be responsible for a war crime”, upon which it was concluded that Montenegro was not a side in the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that the accused did not act in the service of the Bosnian Serbs, despite evidence to the contrary (Judgment Ks. 6/12).

In 2025, the victims of the Deportations were finally granted the status of civilian victims of war through amendments to the Law on Veterans and Disability Protection. The Government of Montenegro also decided to pay a one-time compensation of 100,000 EUR to the family of the person killed in this crime, Osmo Bajrović, whose wife and children are Montenegrin citizens. This act represents an important step towards the recognition of responsibility and the correction of a long-standing injustice.

In 2022, the Ministry of Interior and the Police Administration of Montenegro issued an apology to the victims of the Deportations and their families.

This year, in addition to the family members of Osmo Bajrović, the gathering will also be attended by two mothers and two sisters of the victims of the Deportations, who are coming from Goražde for this occasion: Sejda and Sanela Krdžalija, mother and sister of Sanin Krdžalija; Hikmeta Prelo, mother of Amer Prelo, the youngest, eighteen-year-old, victim of the Deportations; and Hikmet’s sister, Fikreta Hadžić. Hikmeta and Fikreta also lost their brother, Himzo Čengić, in this war crime.

Representatives of the Office of the President of Montenegro, Marija Vesković and Drago Šundić, will attend the gathering. A response is still awaited from Prime Minister Milojko Spajić.

Four ministers have confirmed their attendance:

• Tamara Vujović, Minister of Culture and Media,
• Damir Gutić, Minister of Social Welfare, Family and Demography,
• Ernad Suljević, Minister of Regional Investment Development and Cooperation with NGOs.
• Fatmir Gjeka, Minister of Human and Minority Rights.

On behalf of the Ministry of Interior, Director General of the Directorate for Security and Supervisory Affairs, Zoran Kujović, and the Head of the Security Department in Herceg Novi, Dragan Kontić, will attend. Representing the Ministry of European Affairs will be Predrag Zenović, Chief EU Negotiator of Montenegro.

Confirmed attendees also include the Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Montenegro, Branimir Jukić; representatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); as well as representatives of the Liberal Party, the Social Democrats, the Bosniak Party, Editor-in-Chief of the weekly Monitor Milena Perović, former Monitor Editor-in-Chief Esad Kočan, human rights advocate and researcher Aleksandar Saša Zeković, citizens and representatives of civil society organizations.

The memorial meeting last year, in 2024, was attended by the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms, Siniša Bjeković; Minister of Culture and Media, Tamara Vujović; State Secretary at the Ministry of Interior, Petar Koprivica; Head of the Security Department in Herceg Novi, Dragan Kontić; Adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister for Labour, Education, Health and Social Policy, Mirjana Maslovar; Official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Drago Martinović; Associate in the Cabinet of the President of Montenegro, Marija Vesković; Manager of the Municipality of Herceg Novi, Dušan Vukić; and Assistant Secretary for Spatial Planning and Construction in the Municipality of Herceg Novi, Aleksandar Božović.

A year earlier, in 2023, the following attended: Prime Minister Dritan Abazović; Adviser to the PM, Đorđe Radulović; Deputy Prime Minister for Regional Development and Minister of Capital Investments, Ervin Ibrahimović; Minister of Justice, Marko Kovač; Minister of Labour and Social Care, Admir Adrović; State Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, Krsto Perović; and State Secretary at the Ministry of Interior, Mersudin Gredić. Representing the Municipality of Herceg Novi was the Municipality Manager, Dušan Vukić, from the political party URA.

THREE INITIATIVES

HRA, CCE, ANIMA and then member of the Council for Civilian Oversight of Police Work, Aleksandar Saša Zeković, fourteen years ago, in 2011, submitted three initiatives:

• To the then President of the Parliament of Montenegro, Ranko Krivokapić, and all heads of parliamentary clubs, to declare a Remembrance Day for the victims of the refugee deportation crime in 1992;
• To the then Prime Minister of Montenegro, Igor Lukšić, Minister of Interior Ivan Brajović, Minister of Culture Branislav Mićunović, as well as the then President of the Municipality Assembly of Herceg Novi, Dejan Mandić, to erect a memorial for the victims of the refugee deportation in 1992 in front of the Police Administration building in Herceg Novi, thus supporting the wishes of the victims’ families;
• For the Montenegrin police to issue an apology for the unlawful arrests and handover of refugees to the hostile Army of the Serbian Republic of B&H.

We have reiterated these initiatives over the years. In May 2021, we resubmitted the first initiative to then Speaker of Parliament Aleksa Bečić, who responded that this would require amending the Law on State and Other Holidays, but he did not take any steps to initiate such changes.

In September 2021, we repeated the second initiative to the Mayor and the President of the Municipal Assembly of Herceg Novi, Ivan Otović, the councilor clubs of the Municipal Assembly of Herceg Novi, and to then Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, Vesna Bratić. We received no response. Last year, together with the Bosniak Council, we sent the same initiative to Mayor Stevan Katić and Municipal Assembly President Ivan Otović, as well as to all local council members – again, we received no reply.

The third initiative is the only one officially accepted – in 2022, Police Director Zoran Brđanin and Minister of Interior Filip Adžić attended the memorial in Herceg Novi marking the 30th anniversary of the crime and issued a public apology to the victims and their families for the actions of the Montenegrin police. Additionally, in August 2023, President of Montenegro Jakov Milatović issued an official public apology for this crime on behalf of the state during a meeting with Alen Bajrović, son of Osmo Bajrović, a victim of the Deportation, and with representatives of HRA, CCE and ANIMA.

Human Rights Action (HRA)

Centre for Civic Education (CCE)

ANIMA – Centre for Women’s and Peace Education